I know it’s silly, my belief in signs and harbingers. But superstition can be helpful for indecisive people; it lets us off the hook. Takes the choice out of our hands.
— Prologue

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she replies. “And why should you care what people think?”
— Part Four

While I’ll be lucky if there will be one summer here, this book and lovely story will offer you two along with some French flair and US summer specials. I thoroughly enjoyed this love story with a more than clever twist, because depending on one decision the protagonist experiences two very different summers either at home or in France. In both she will grow into her own and make some life-altering discoveries. I especially liked every moment Summer thinks that had she decided differently she would be happier and only the reader knows that the alternative would have its fair share of turbulence as well. In this case the journey is not necessarily the destination, but even if many roads lead to Rome you should enjoy the scenery on the one you travel.
Big recommendation for this sweet summer read with surprising depth. If you like the movie/book Sliding Doors or the books by Huntley Fitzpatrick, you should definitely give this a try.

I find the idea fascinating that every time we make a decision reality actually divides into separate possibilities ... even if I also find the idea of multiple universes hard to wrap my head around. I would like to see some of the alternate paths caused by some of my decisions. Not because I regret them, but because I’d like to see what might have been. Would that be something you’d be interested in? Let’s hear from you in the comments.

“No elevator?” I asked
“None that you’d want to get on.” At the look on my face, he smiled. “The elevators here only go down.”
— Chapter 17

Some supernatural YA romance from one of my go to feel good authors. And when I say romance I mean cool, snarky, hot, and possibly forbidden. The holy four-fold if you ask me. And the plot is not something to be scoffed at either. I’m incredibly glad that this series is already available in its entirety, because if the previous series are any indication, there are going to be major cliffhangers and emotional turmoil ahead.
It’s not the new, mould-breaking story to end all others, but if you liked the author’s previous books you’ll also like this series, I dare say.

You possibly have a favourite fantasy species and I bet that gargoyles are not necessarily on the top of the list. I can’t say that they are going to be after this book, but demons might move up a few spots. Who is on your list? Let’s hear from you in the comments.

I don’t know how summer is coming along for you but at my end it’s leaving a lot to be desired. I can fully empathise with the Jinn of this book who light a fire in September in New England, because it’s too darn cold. Apart from that sympathy, this book feels like a slightly typical second book in a trilogy but then again not completely as it is the final book in a dulogy and thus clearly pushes the overall plot along without being too messy in its internal plot. I can’t really say much more without giving anything away. But if you’ve read the first book and where left with a lot of questions, quite a few of them get answered ... and then you get a set of brand new ones.
One aspect I really enjoy about this Jinn universe is that the wisher is kept unaware and that the Jinn has to fulfil the honest to goodness deepest wish a person has instead of three wishes that might be made for personal gain, but don’t actually help.

The prognosis for summer here is mixed at best, which would have a nice reading touch to it, but I actually enjoy sitting in the sun to read so maybe someone can wish for that. Do you have an outside reading spot? Let’s hear from you in the comments.

And she would leap, a fearless launch into empty space, because he wasn’t just her father—he was Daddy. He would catch her; he would not let her fall.
— Prologue

I should have known he was going to save me by betraying me: He’d been doing it from the beginning.
— Chapter 4

It is quite possible that literature has taught me to be a cautious pessimist. Or maybe a high-functioning pessimist. I no longer just open a book and start a new story (or continue it), but rather I’m approaching it with an underlying question along the lines of “okay, how are you going to blow everything up in my face?”. This is not a bad thing, because if I wanted to, I’m certain I could find books that go straight from A to B without so much as trying to mess with me. Big if I wanted to.
So I got this book final book in the trilogy and if you’ve read the previous two, you remember that everything is already pretty glum and how will this ever be nearing something that can be described as sort of okay. And I think I’m still in the part where everything it is pretty much going downhill fast, possibly backwards. At the moment I’m not sure how this is supposed to be turned around. Maybe it isn’t and this is headed towards a big finale of apocalyptic destruction. Which in itself is from a certain point of view the only happy end possible.
And this is also where I realised that I’m not as pessimistic as I thought, because I’m still trying to figure out how this could be turned around to a somewhat positive outcome. At what point is post-apocalyptic so far gone that the previous state cannot be restored and the only feasible way is forward to begin from scratch rather than backward to rebuild?

Are you a literary optimist or pessimist. Or something else altogether? Let’s hear from you in the comments along with your teasers.